


Withdrawal

by Xenafox



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Depression, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 09:24:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1977615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenafox/pseuds/Xenafox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a fic set in my universe where Kotetsu and Barnaby have gotten married! I had been wanting to write something for this verse, and a push from a friend set it in  motion.</p><p>Kotetsu isn’t feeling well at all! And it’s quite the odd feeling…</p><p>Turns out he’s a forgetful old man who worries others, oooops.</p><p>I wrote this based on a personal experience that I don’t really see in fanfic. Keep in mind in this verse a large theme is Kotetsu dealing with his depression and overall sadness!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Withdrawal

When Kotetsu woke up that morning, life was normal. He felt normal, he felt okay! It was a morning like any other, too warm and cozy to want to leave with ample complaining the moment Barnaby decided to pull away from him to begin his morning routine. 

Kotetsu knew he should too. The night before had been a touch rough – he'd been feeling lousy and feeling down, and Barnaby had been quite busy with an event by himself, leaving him with no desire to talk much upon arriving home. That made Kotetsu feel even lonelier. When even his husband didn't feel up to spending time with him, what was he to do?

His finger hovered over his contact list for what felt like hours as he felt like talking to Antonio, but he knew he would bother him. Thus, bed was the answer.

Sleep helped a lot; it always did and he didn't know why he was so slow to go to bed sometimes. Well...he did. Most of the time he stayed up way too late eating snacks while Barnaby went to sleep at a normal time. 

It was nice going to bed with Barnaby. He had to do it more. He loved spending hours cuddled next to him, and it was with that thought that he tracked him down in the shower to kiss his pretty face and do other things to wake them both up. 

Kotetsu noticed something was amiss when they stopped at a coffee shop on their way to work. He took a step and it felt like something in his leg jumped. Like it twitched, even! It was a strange feeling, and he thought he stepped wrong. 

He proceeded to order a breakfast bagel with plenty of sausage (during which he winked at an annoyed Barnaby), and walked to the end of the counter to wait for it. 

It happened again, making him pause in his step and wonder if he was going to fall. It felt like it went to his brain that time. 

“Kotetsu?” Barnaby was watching him before placing his own order. 

“I think I still need to wake up!” Kotetsu said, offering an awkward grin. “Maybe I slept on my leg wrong, feels weird.”

“Weird how?”

“Um. Twitchy. I don't know how to put it, but once I eat I should be good to go,” he assured Barnaby. And though he was sure Barnaby thought he was hiding something, it was true. What else could it be?

Barnaby didn't answer, instead turning to order his coffee, with no breakfast. Kotetsu frowned. The man needed to eat, and he needed to eat something other than rabbit food and fish. What the hell was wrong with a little bacon, anyway?

They left as soon as their orders arrived, preferring to eat and go. Kotetsu started on his bagel, his steps also continuing to feel a little weird, but he got used to it. 

Though, as they got closer to the office, he realized the feeling had mostly gone to his head...

The food and coffee didn't help, but he didn't say anything. Kotetsu got onto his paperwork, trying to focus as best he could. His usual work was sub-par and no one batted an eye on the days it was actual shit, but there was no reason it should be that day. He wasn't sick, even if he felt that odd feeling, like his brain was twitching and seizing every few minutes. 

Perhaps he needed more sleep...

Or more coffee! Kotetsu stood up about an hour into his work, off to get some bad breakroom coffee. 

He almost fell over as he felt that twitch again. It made him miss his step in the oddest of ways. And he noticed...his body felt weird. He felt like he was having a hot spell – weren't those for women with menopause!? ...Maybe guys went through menopause. He remembered reading on a forum somewhere that men went through some monthly hormone thing that was like a period. 

But that was ridiculous, right?

“You aren't okay.” The flat statement came from Barnaby, as always. He was giving Kotetsu a disapproving look. 

“But....” Why was he even about to fight it? He really wasn't sure. It wasn't like he was hiding anything dirty, and Barnaby was often helpful when he felt sick. He was also supposed to tell him everything and anything, especially since they were married. “I guess not. I don't really know...my head feels odd.”

In an instant, Barnaby was out of his chair and on Kotetsu's side of the desk. “Odd how?” he asked, his hand on Kotetsu's forehead. It was warm, smooth and comforting with the exception of the cool hard metal of his wedding ring. It made Kotetsu smile to feel such a thing against his head again. 

He couldn't just think about that. “Like...I don't know how to describe it Bunny! Like my brain is jumping or glitching. I also feel overheated and wonder if I might get sick or fall down. My body feels weird...”

It really did. It had taken a while to hit, but he felt very strange. He was weak on his feet and sort of out of it. He didn't like it one bit, and reached for Barnaby. He was trying to be better about going to him for comfort, even in the office. 

Barnaby came closer and let Kotetsu rest against him. He dropped his hand and Kotetsu leaned his forehead against the blonde's. “Probably just catching a bug,” he said, frowning. He didn't want to get sick. Then he'd get Barnaby sick too. 

“I suppose. But this means you are out for any calls.”

“What?” Kotetsu pulled back. “But I need to help people! I may not feel my best but-”

“Remember the time you threw up in your helmet -twice? Do you remember that disaster? Children cried. We actually lost points.”

“Ah...c'mon, don't hold that against me!”

Barnaby narrowed his eyes at him. “I'm not! It's an example!”

“Ah...”

Barnaby sighed and kissed Kotetsu's cheek. “Just stay here if we get a call, please. Or go home. But leave any calls to me. I don't want you to hurt yourself because you cannot focus or function like normal...er well...not that normal is that safe for you...”

Kotetsu glared. “Hey!”

Barnaby actually smiled at him a little. “Sorry.” Then his face grew serious again. “Please stay here?” he pleaded. 

Kotetsu had no choice to agree when Barnaby asked in such a concerned tone. And that he did when Barnaby had to head out on a call less than an hour later. 

The whole time he felt miserable. His head kept repeating that same feeling constantly. He wanted to lie down and make it stop because he was getting dizzy. Sleep sounded good in general too. It fixed his mood, and rest would help him get well. Overall he just felt like crap. A piece of crap with hot flashes and weird little spells. His body felt like it was desperate to recover from something.

It made his mood go down. As he stared at a jumble of words and numbers all he could think about was how much he sucked at something as stupid as paperwork. Yes – he was lazy about it and hated doing it! But he was actively bad at it. Sometimes he didn't use the right date, and most of the time he didn't really know what the hell he agreed to. He found that out the hard way a couple of times, and had een Judge Petrov on more than one occasion when things got muddled. 

Bunny got headaches from it, and felt stressed. Poor Bunny, being hitched to someone like him, who had a minute of power and signed his name like a moron...

Kotetsu shoved the work away and turned off his computer. He couldn't be there any longer. By then it was only around noon, but he wasn't able to do his work well and so he needed to go. He told the secretary, and she let him go without question. 

There had been more than a few days where Kotetsu had to go home because of his mental state. It was shameful since he had once been the hero who never took a day off, but through a lot of talking with Barnaby and doctors, he realized he had to do it sometimes. 

He couldn't be a hero to others if he could barely deal with himself. 

Kotetsu took a taxi home, not wanting to take the public transport they had that morning. The rocking of a train might make him throw up, and he preferred the more private, smooth ride of a taxi. It cost a little more unless the driver was Ben but he would just deal with it. 

Once home he collapsed in bed. He wanted sleep to overtake him, to put him out, soothe his mind, calm his nerves, and make it all better. He wanted to be unconscious and not think himself into an upset again. He preferred acting positive and doing dumb goofy things as opposed to feeling upset about being who he was. 

Too bad he wasn't tired. 

Kotetsu tossed and turned. At one point he went for the pink bunny that Barnaby kept, given to him some time ago by Kotetsu. It was a comforting object when he did not have Barnaby to press close to. Wrapping all his limbs around the bunny made him feel better....somewhat. 

He eventually drifted off for a little while, thinking about when Barnaby would be home later, when they would eat, what they would eat if he was even able to. He'd time dinner and a shower better so he could sleep with Barnaby and as long as he stuck to a schedule...

Oh no. 

As he fell into a short nap, Kotetsu realized the stupidity he had committed. 

 

He woke up to something thin and papery smacking him in the face. Kotetsu groaned and blinked himself awake, confused about where he was at first. Wasn't he supposed to be at work? Why was the plush bunny there? It came back to him slowly, very slowly...

“You idiot,” Barnaby grumbled. 

As his vision cleared up, Kotetsu saw the bag that had hit him, a bag from a local pharmacy he went to for his refills. 

His refills for his medication that he had plum forgotten for the past three nights. 

Hey, it wasn't his fault! The first night they were on a call involving a rattlesnake that had grown arms and legs after a vengeful NEXT got his ex back. That set his routine off enough somehow. He didn't know how, since he'd been on night calls a great many times and still taken his pills. But apparently, he missed them that night and just kept doing so. 

And, it seemed, he had run out of them anyway. It explained feeling sick, and certainly explained feeling like crap the previous night. 

“Heh, sorry,” he said, laughing nervously as he looked up at Barnaby's annoyed face. Thank goodness Barnaby had remembered for him and had the authority to get them for him! Where would he be without him!?

Barnaby didn't smile. “Kotetsu! You know you can't miss these! Do you want to feel worse than you did today? Do you want to go into withdrawals?!”

“Bunny...”

“Do you want to feel depressed?”

“What!?” Kotetsu sat up in shock, clutching the bag. Why would Barnaby say such a thing, out of nowhere!? They did aid him quite a bit, and he liked that! “Bunny, of course not! I hate feeling that way! I just missed them and got thrown off schedule, that's all!”

Barnaby continued to look angry. 

“Bunny, it's the truth! I didn't mean to! I'm happy you got them for me, why would you think...?”

A few seconds longer, and Barnaby dropped his glare, lowering his eyes in shame. “I'm...I'm sorry, Kotetsu. How terrible of me to say such a thing.”

“Ah..it's alright.”

“No. It's not.” Barnaby looked at him slowly. “I worry, sometimes. I don't want you to think you can handle suddenly quitting these pills, even if you dislike having to take them. And more than that, I don't want you to think you deserve to be depressed and stop taking them for that reason.”

Kotetsu studied him. He didn't realize Barnaby had that fear, he really didn't. And he knew it was genuine. “Bunny? I can swear it was a mistake. It really was. I know how sad you would be if I stopped taking them to punish myself.” He saw Barnaby wince. Barnaby hated it when he talked like that. “And so I wouldn't do it. I'm just...I'm that dumb sometimes, yanno?”

He meant it jokingly, but Barnaby didn't like it. “You're not dumb for forgetting.”

“Well...heh...I know, but...”

“You don't need to make jokes about yourself.”

Kotetsu slid to the edge of the bed and took Barnaby's hand. He lifted it to his cheek and nuzzled it, paying attention to the ring again. “I'm sorry I made you worry. I really am.”

“No, I'm sorry for implying-”

“We can apologize all day, or I can take my pill and we can kiss,” Kotetsu said suddenly. He got tired of apologies sometimes. Please, could they move on? There was no reason to dwell. That was a lesson he had a hard time learning. A VERY hard time. 

“O-okay.” Barnaby let his hand slip from Kotetsu's, but it lingered by his head. “I just...”

“Bunny.”

“Yes?”

“Can you get me a cup of water to take this with?” Kotetsu asked, smiling up at him. His head still felt funny, after all. 

Barnaby stroked his hair very briefly, and then nodded. “Yes. Certainly, I'll do that.” He dropped his hand, and started to walk off. 

Kotetsu watched him and then called out. “Hey, Bunny!” Barnaby paused and half turned toward him. “Bunny, I love you,” Kotetsu said, grinning. He liked telling him that, and it was a nice thing to say after a bit of a downer situation, no matter how brief. 

Barnaby shook his head. “Idiot,” he said, in almost a hushed whisper, but he smiled as he turned away to retrieve Kotetsu's water.


End file.
